Bank shares in dramatic plunge

Shares in Irish banks fell sharply on the ISEQ index today, with the three remaining publicly-listed banks seeing more than half of their value collectively wiped out.

AIB shares plummeted some 58.62% by market close, shedding 85c to 0.60, while Bank of Ireland fell 54.67%, tumbling 41c to 0.34.

Shares in AIB and Bank of Ireland hit record lows of 0.40 cent and 0.33 respectively earlier in the day's session..

Irish Life & Permanent shares meanwhile halved in value, down 1.10 to 1.10

The plunge came amid mounting uncertainty surrounding the sector, and followed the controversial nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank late last week and the announcement earlier today that Bank of Ireland chief executive Brian Goggin would retire this summer.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan today asked the former chief executive of Bank of Ireland Maurice Keane to join the board of Anglo. Legislation enabling the bank's nationalisation will be brought before the Dáil on Tuesday.

The falls were also driven by a similar tale unfolding on the FTSE as the day progressed, and further fears over the global economy.

In Britain, Royal Bank of Scotland shares fell to a 23-year low after unveiling a loss of up to £28bn (€30bn) last year, the biggest loss in British corporate history.

The steep losses in the banking sector dragged the overall ISEQ index down some 182.38 points to 2.273.84.

Losses were also recorded outside the banking trio, with index majors such as Elan Corp (down 32c to 5.10), Kerry Group (down 54c to 13.71), Kingspan (down 19c to 2.71), Smurfit Kappa (down 22c to 1.72) and Tullow Oil (down 54c to 7.10) ending the day deep in the red.